MULLAH ABDULLAH Iraq (Reuters) - Under a bridge, 40 men from the Iraqi police and Kurdish peshmerga fighters take cover from the sun and the occasional mortar fired from across the river that marks one front in a conflict that threatens to dismember the country.
A Kurdish flag planted on top of a Humvee plundered from the Iraqi army marks the territory the Kurds have gained since the army, under attack by Islamist militants, abandoned its bases 20 kilometres (12 miles) away in Kirkuk last week and peshmerga moved into their positions.